Supporting sustainable development in Venezuela
Some of Computer Aid’s donated PCs have found a new home in the heart of the Amazon Jungle. Computer Aid's partner the Venezuelan Community Development organisation Asociacion de Promocion Iniciativas Ecologicas (APIE), is providing the computers to schools in the remote South East of the country. This area was affected by particularly heavy logging in the 1980s and 1990s. APIE’s work aims to re-establish ecological diversity, and foster development practices that protect the Amazon’s rich ecological and cultural heritage.
In the absence of a stable power supply, Amazonian children are usually denied access to ICT. APIA has equipped remote schools with solar panels which generate enough electricity to power a computer lab. This sustainable power source has enabled pupils aged between six and 15 regular access to ICT facilities. These schools are now able to follow the Venezuelan National Curriculum via e-learning programmes, linking with schools in the nearby cities of Puerto Ayacucho and Inirida.
The Venezuelan Government has long recognized the importance of ICT in education. As far back as the 1999 Constitucion de Republica Bolivariana de Venezue instructed educational institutions to ‘incorporate knowledge and application of new technologies and the resulting innovations’ into the national curriculum.
"Many thanks to Computer Aid for making IT affordable to communities that would otherwise have no access." Alejandra González, from Asociacion de Promocion Iniciativas Ecologicas.
A solar panel is lifted onto the roof of a school
